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Belgische kunstenaar John Gérard

Gérard John (Bob)

John Gérard was a Belgian artist (sporadic use of the pseudonym: BOB) born in 1900 in Hasselt and died in 1965 in Mechelen. He was a painter, watercolorist, draftsman and graphic artist. Born as Joannes Josephus Antonius Wilhelmus Gerard. Followed law education. He was first employed as a lawyer in Hasselt, from 1932 as justice of peace in Dendermonde and from 1934 in Mechelen. Was in 1928 co-founder of the non-profit association "De Heecrabbers" in Hasselt, which was already an Art Circle since 1926. He regularly participated in the exhibitions of his Circle and also designed various posters in the 1930s to announce these exhibitions. Initially painted mainly Kempen landscapes. From the press about this (1937): “He puts the colors generously and lavishly on the canvas. He meets spontaneously, his skies shaking with blue and gray and green and brown. Everything is colorful with him; the drawing is color, the movement is color, the impression jumps out of color, also the whole power of J.G. sticks in the color; he is a true color virtuoso." Was also a member of the Kunstkring in Sint-Truiden. Later he expanded his range of subjects, including Spanish characters, picturesque corners and scenes, Moroccan alleys. He signed his paintings with John Gérard and his watercolors with Bob Gérard. From the history of the Heecrabbers: "He signed his oil paints as John Gérard, his watercolors and (user) graphics in short with Bob, as if he wanted to indicate that John stood for pure art and Bob for the applied work." Still exhibited in a group at the Rubens gallery in Brussels in 1959, in the Coopérative Artistique in Brussels in 1960. (PIRON)